Study identifies those at high risk for developing pancreatic cancer

the ONA take:

According to new findings published in the journal Digestive and Liver Diseases, an international team of researchers has developed a profile of the patient who would be at highest risk for developing pancreatic lesions that are most likely to develop into cancer.

To determine which patients are at high risk, the researchers analyzed data from 1,126 patients diagnosed with pancreatic lesions.

Of those, 84 developed invasive pancreatic cancer. Results showed that all 84 patients had all or some of the following factors: a history of smoking, a history of obesity, jaundice, and steatorrhea.

Researchers also identified the following risk factors: a larger cyst size, cysts in the main pancreatic duct, and nodules on the cyst wall. The study showed that abdominal pain did not put patients at high risk.

The authors estimate that between 10 and 40% of people have these lesions, but the majority do not develop pancreatic cancer.

The findings may help assure concerned patients who have these lesions that they are not at high risk for developing pancreatic cancer.

Researchers developed a profile of the patient who would be at highest risk for developing pancreatic lesions.

When people find out-usually from a diagnostic scan looking at something else-that they have a lesion in their pancreas that could morph into pancreatic cancer, they can panic. They insist on having frequent CT scans and biopsies to monitor the lesion, or they ask for surgery.